A pair of young boys were caught red-handed in the act of vandalizing Green Lot Nursery in Cutten Monday, around 7 p.m., doing a sizable amount of damage.

Sue Smith, daughter of the owner of Green Lot Nursery, said that she was returning from a night out when she came upon the boys.

”Oh yeah, we caught them in the green house,” Smith said. “They had sticks and were smashing the hanging baskets. They were doing them like piñatas.”

Smith said that more than 130 hanging plant baskets were destroyed as well as other plants, with the damage totaling more than $3,000.

The boys attend Cutten Elementary School.

”It makes you wonder what these boys were thinking,” Smith said. “If they’re doing this sort of thing now, imagine what they might be doing when they’re 15.”

The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Department responded and the boys were turned over to their guardians. Smith said she is not planning to file criminal charges, but expressed concern for the boys involved.

”You’ve just got to wonder what would make them so angry that they would do something like this,” she said. Smith said that the boys’ parents pledged to repay the nursery for the damages.

Smith added that this is the first time in 45 years the nursery has been vandalized.

Julie Osborne, principal of Ridgewood School where the two boys attended last year, just across the street from the nursery, said that she was sorry to hear about the vandalism.

”We heard about it and we’re sad that we weren’t here to stop it,” Osborne said. “We’re neighbors and I know (Green Lot Nursery) keeps an eye out for us.”